At least 80 die in Egyptian train crash north of Cairo

At least 80 people were reportedly killed and more than 140 injured in Egypt on Monday when two commuter trains collided 20 kilometers north of Cairo.

At least 80 people were reportedly killed and more than 140 injured in Egypt on Monday when two commuter trains collided 20 kilometers north of Cairo.

Railway officials said that the two trains collided outside the Egyptian town of Qalyoub shortly before 8 a.m., according to the AP, apparently as a result of poorly maintained equipment. The trains were traveling to Cairo from the provinces of Mansoura and Banha.

Hundreds of rescue workers and ambulances arrived at the scene to search for surviving passengers, most of whom were farmers or government workers commuting to Cairo, according to the AFP. Several cranes were also reportedly being used to help in the rescue effort.

Subsequently, authorities were forced to shut down train service from the two cities in the Nile Delta from which the trains originated.

Egypt is notorious for deadly trains accidents, with 363 people killed in 2002 in the country's worst train disaster. Earlier this year, twenty other poeple were injured when two trains collided at a Nile Delta station in February. In May, 45 others were hurt when a cargo train collided with a passenger train near the Nile Delta village of Alshat.